My Planting List

A huge advantage to plants native to the Mount Washington Valley is that they are evolved to do well here, so they are far more likely to do well in our gardens than non-natives.  Below is my original plant list.  An updated list can be found here. Most were planted in full sun, at a dry location at 1350 feet of elevation. So far everything planted has done extremely well except for the low bush blueberries, but I think I just need to give them some more time and TLC.

Oaks, birches, asters, sunflowers and goldenrod are known as keystone plants, which are particularly important to providing food insects need. If you have limited space or resources, these would be the plants start with.

How to know what plants are native or non-native

iNaturalist

One of the best tools available for this is iNaturalist. This amazing website and free app is easy to use and will identify just about anything in the natural world. Just take a picture or two of your plant (or butterfly, moth, caterpillar, bird, reptile, amphibian) and the app will identify it for you or at least tell you what family it is in. 

Once you have the ID, you can click on it and it will give you a lot more information, including whether it is native or non-native. You can use iNaturalist to keep a list of all the plants in your yard and beyond.

Below is a screen capture showing an iNaturalist observation of Butterfly milkweed.

Native Plant Finder

The National Wildlife Organization has a website where you can put in your zip code and it will tell you what native plants are suitable for your yard.

Where to buy

Most places selling trees, or shrubs or perennials are selling native plants, but here in the Mount Washington Valley, they do not separate them into a native plant section.  If you go knowing what you want, McSherry’s Nursery will likely have it.

There are a number of nurseries in the general Manchester/Concord area selling only native plants. Bagley Pond Perennials does mail order.

Seeds

While it takes work and planning, seeds are really the way to go with native plants. The best place to buy seeds which are sourced locally is the Wild Seed Project which is in Maine.

Non-native, or non-native invasive?

Some native plants, like the very popular hydrangeas, are not considered invasive. The do not outcompete native plants and take over the garden. No need to pull them out if you have room to plant natives too. Other popular shrubs, like Burning Bush, loved for its brilliant red fall color, are invasive. It can be replaced by Highbush Blueberry, which can been seen on mountain summits in the fall in large swaths of stunning red bushes. There is no need for your entire yard to be native plants. Research has shown that a garden or yard with 70% native plants will do the trick. If you want to know more about which native plants can be used to replace non-natives, click here.

The New Hampshire Department of Agriculture publishes a list of invasive species and prohibits their sale. Some very common landscape plants – Japanese Barberry and Burning Bush and – are on that list. The University of New Hampshire Extension website has detailed resources on invasive plants and on Alternatives to invasive landscape plants in case you have some in your yard like I did.

Other resources

Birds

One of the great joys of planting native is seeing more species of birds in your yard as the increase in food sources lures them in – without bird feeders!  If you need some help in identifying, learning about them and keeping track of them, here are some tools.

Sibley Guides and Merlin

The Sibley Field Guide To Birds of Eastern North America and it companion app are the best resources if you know a bit about birds already. If you are a beginner, the Merlin app is an incredible tool. One of the best things is that you can record the bird’s song, or get a picture of the bird if you can, and it will give you a likely identification. It’s also great if you are more than a beginner but having the common problem of not being sure of song you are hearing.

eBird

Once you start identifying your birds, you can use eBird for finding out more about them – like whether they are migrating through your yards or staying for the season to breed- and keeping keeping track of them. Your records will tell you things like when the first Ruby-throated Hummingbird arrived the spring before, or whether you’ve ever seen a Rose-breasted Grosbeak before. Be careful – it can be addictive!